


the old ways

by eatjamfast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Demon Kuro (Voltron), Demon Shiro (Voltron), Demon Summoning, Druid Keith (Voltron), Explicit Sexual Content, Forest Witch - Freeform, Forests, Light Angst, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Nature Magic, Prophetic Visions, Threesome - M/M/M, Witch Keith (Voltron), Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:34:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29380719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatjamfast/pseuds/eatjamfast
Summary: Keith becomes the guardian of Arus forest after his mother retires. When illegal loggers trespass on his home, he must take extreme measures to protect it.written for cosmogonists' sheithlentines prompt:Kurosheith with witch Keith giving up his virginity to the demons for power. Shiro and Kuro end up overprotective of the witch.
Relationships: Keith/Kuro (Voltron), Keith/Kuro/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 108
Collections: Sheithlentines 2021





	the old ways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cosmogonist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmogonist/gifts).



> <3 I had a LOT of fun writing for this prompt, and I really hope you like my take on it!! <3

_the old ways_

  
  


Arus forest was Keith's whole _world_.

He had tempered that shallow well of power within himself, and divided it up between all the life that surrounded him. It was partly out of duty as the guardian of the forest, but mostly out of a genuine love for the place itself.

Every root, every tree – they all held a part of him now.

The home Keith had built for himself there was simple; he'd carefully tackled the overgrown clearing that housed the bones of his mother's cottage, leaving only the tiny amaranth wild flowers that sprung up no matter the season.

The old cottage lay to the eastern side of the grassy outcrop. Rustic, it had stood strong for centuries now with only two storeys and a root cellar.

During the years Keith had lived away from his ancestral home, he tried to lock away the Druidic heritage that hummed in his veins. He wasn't exactly _ashamed_ that his magic was weaker than generations passed, but it frustrated him nonetheless. The city had its own charms, but nature had a knack for worming its way into the cracks, whispering to Keith of his _duty_ in the moments he let his guard down.

It seemed inevitable, when he finally moved back into that small, empty cottage. The loneliness bothered him less when he realised that the endless expanse of trees were company enough if you had the time to listen to them.

Trees swamped in on the space from all sides, but try as they might, their tangled branches couldn't hide the wide window of sky above.

The glade was silent, that evening.

It wasn't unusual, but there was something about that _particular_ quiet in the balmy evening that left his skin rippling with goose flesh; eyes picking out shapes in the darkness beyond the tree line.

Keith crouched low beside the cool freshwater spring that resided in the centre of his garden, before placing the basket of herbs he'd been harvesting into the water. It helped keep them fresh, and the way autumn had settled in the forest meant the mood struck him to harvest more of the aquatic herbs Arus had to offer.

It meant he had to forage deeper into the thick of the trees, seeking out long-forgotten paths to find long-forgotten brooks and ponds.

Keith, foolishly, hadn't expected anything to come of breaking the unseen boundaries he ventured through.

Other creatures in the forest probably would have thought about it a bit harder, but Keith wasn't _other creatures_. He was mostly human, and that natural human curiosity had joined him in his new life. He didn't have the same senses as his animal neighbours, didn't stick around long enough for Krolia to tell him how dangerous it could be to break down those secret walls.

Keith had to learn for himself, and counted his stars that nothing untoward had happened sooner.

He tried to relax as the evening spilled into night, but couldn't avoid that prickly feeling of unease.

 _Patience_ , he imagined his mother telling him.

Feeling wooden under the oppressive silence that had crept further into the clearing, Keith pretended at busying himself. While he had grown into a talented witch... he wasn’t arrogant enough to assume whatever spark of magic he held inside his heart could hold its own against what had entered the forest.

Humming softly as he pulled a polished wooden bowl to himself, Keith left his home briefly to dip the rim into the spring. When it was half filled with water, aglow with the light of the waxing moon, he murmured quiet words of preparation.

It was a simple but effective spell, and he was running out of ideas.

Venturing back inside, Keith placed a single slice of lemon and a pinch of salt.

He hovered his hands over the mixture, inhaling intent and exhaling power. A soft white glow spilled from the bowl. The charmed water chimed in response to his magic.

He let his gaze wander out to the great unknown, but still couldn't pinpoint any energy in the inky darkness beyond.

Keith sighed, stretching luxuriously as he stood up, before picking up his bowl and dipping two fingers into the water.

He knew it wasn't safe to linger out in the open when the energy was this abrasive. Even the birds were staying silent.

Stopping in front of his roughly hewn door, he reached out with dripping fingertips and carefully drew out the only bindrune he committed to memory – one of home warding.

The water did not drip as he created the lines of the ligature, it just limned the cracks in the wood with that soothing white light.

It would not stop danger knocking down his door, but it would give him a head start running from it.

Keith spared one futile glance out into the clearing, wishing plaintively that the terrible silence would leave him by sunrise.

  
  


*

  
  


Keith's wish came true.

He was yanked into a sensate reality by a thunderous _crash_.

Following hot on the heels of the cacophony came _terror_. A swell of pain erupted in his chest, and jackknifed in on himself, gasping hoarsely.

The bindrune pulled at him, whispering _danger, danger_ , _danger_.

Something painful shifted in his heart, and immediately he knew that the intruder had committed a heinous crime against the land.

Rushing to pull on a pair of jeans, foregoing his boots, Keith ran into the night in search of whichever creature was calling for him, calling for _help_.

It was a familiar energy, although one he didn't know by name as he did the other plants that needed his more devoted attention; it pulsed weakly and frantically in his head, splitting it with a migraine.

There was an ear-splitting crack that echoed through the night.

But it wasn't the noise that made Keith stumble. It was the awful _nothingness_ that followed it.

Dread curled cold in his gut, and Keith's breath wheezed out of him as he pressed on, storming through the woods.

He barely felt the rocks that pressed, unforgiving, into the bare flesh of his feet, pressing onwards to find the source of this hauntingly familiar grief that was worming its way into his heart.

He could hear distant shouting as he summoned the wind to himself, and it whipped ferociously at his clothing. It hurled him forwards at preternatural speed, leading him to where he needed to be.

Then he saw them.

Dirt tracks from some sort of truck had trampled the once lush forest floor, tearing a path through the undergrowth until they found what they were searching for. A huge stump sat, weeping with sap. It was in front of what used to be a cheerful, babbling brook which now sat foetid, stinking of bog water.

The tree, whom Keith had only met once, used to be a lively red oak. He'd met the friendly old being after pushing through one of those unseen barriers, searching for water mint.

The horrified wail that tore itself from him echoed throughout the forest, his wind carrying his grief in a terrifying gale through the trees.

Keith had heard tales of humans bringing their poisonous machines into these strange, eldritch places before, but had thought nothing of it. He knew his mistake no longer carried the innocence of exploration – it dealt the heavy blow that it was _his fault_ this ancient being had died.

Sometimes a felled tree could be nourished by the family surrounding it, especially in Arus where it would have not only Keith, but the innate magic of the land to spur it onwards towards growth again.

Keith placed his palm against the sticky bark, pushing a thin thread of magic into the oak, hoping desperately it would accept it. Dizzy with exhaustion, having spent what little magic his body had to offer, he slumped to the ground.

 _Next time I'll be prepared,_ Keith promised, digging his blunt nails into the dirt, _Next time I will protect you._

  
  


*

  
  


The loggers felled five more trees over the next few weeks, and Keith felt their destruction acutely. It never got easier to deal with the agony of it, and he never arrived in time to exact revenge on the trespassers.

He was wild with loss, and his home fell into disarray as he pored through every book on every shelf tucked away in the cottage.

There _had_ to be something left by his mother that could help him fight.

All he needed was some more strength that his murky bloodline couldn't lend him. At this point he'd take _whatever_ he could get his hands on, but the pacifism of his druid mother meant there wasn’t much information by way of fighting, and _power_.

“What is the _point_ ,” Keith said out loud, tossing a book on familiar summoning to one side with disdain, “Of being a _guardian_ if you’re not allowed to _fight_.”

Some nights he gave himself over to the ever-cresting fear. As the books piled higher next to his chair in the study, the pages were smeared with his tears. Other nights, he felt a strange hollow space inside of him grow with every ancient tree he lost to the loggers, and sank deeper into the emptiness.

The dark skies closed in, and Samhain was fast approaching as he woodenly tended to his garden on one particularly crisp evening. It wasn't cold enough to frost, but the bitter wind rattled his bones nonetheless.

He looked to the pale orange flame he'd placed carefully on the ground next to him, knowing resentfully that even _that_ taxed him. Krolia had taught him the spell when he turned sixteen; how to make the warm light without damaging the life around him. If he could protect the grass from his fire, why couldn't he extend the same energy towards the trees?

The weight of duty was crushing.

Keith would do anything for the power to take back control. _Anything_.

  
  


*

  
  


It seemed apt that Samhain began at a time when Keith had lost so much.

His altar was a pathetic affair, but it would have to do. It wasn't like the _creatures_ he was about to invite into his home through the veil would care about some bread and honey.

Upon finding absolutely _nothing_ of _any_ use in what was probably one of the world's finest libraries of occult, Keith had decided to take matters into his own hands.

Over the years, Keith had found that meditating on a concept tended to push a manifestation of it towards his life in some form or another.

The ritual following this premise would be on a much larger, much more _dangerous_ scale.

Keith's seasonal altar had been neglected because he'd spent every free moment decking out his house in protective sigils, forcing every incarnation of protective herb he knew to grow out of season in an impossibly huge circle around his home.

Every night, he fell into an exhausted, dreamless sleep. Every morning he awoke to work on the charms, the herbs.

It was only three days ago he felt satisfied with the extent of the work he'd done.

Now, his stomach churned unpleasantly in the face of what he was about to do.

All the furniture had been pushed to the walls in the lounge, leaving a decently sized space in the centre of the room. In it he laid down a circle of salt he'd processed himself a few summers ago visiting his friend by the seaside, interspersed with all manner of dried herbs, resins, and flower petals.

He'd lit countless candles around the room, and they limned everything in a honey-gold glow. Four pillar candles in the appropriate colours sat to the North, East, West, and South around the circle, waiting to be lit. Keith held the fifth unlit candle in his own, shaking hands.

It was by far the most beautiful thing he'd ever created for magical purposes, radiating with good-natured energies from the cleansing Keith had performed on it only a few minutes earlier.

Taking a deep, grounding breath, he visualised his magic burning bright and true.

Keith made his way to the northernmost point of his circle. Raising his arms in greeting, he recited the words he'd said so many times in the past, “Spirits of the North, of the body, of the bountiful earth, I greet you in peace, and call to you for your blessings.”

East and South were given their salutations in kind, and their candles sparked to life in response.

For West, he had to take a different approach.

The gateway to the spirit world was temperamental at the best of times. Keith wasn't eager to blow it wide open with no hope of closing it again, especially with who he was about to share Samhain with.

Manifesting whatever creatures embodied Knowledge and Power... _well_. Keith wasn't expecting them to be all sunshine and daisies, honestly.

He steadied his resolve, speaking his words true as he watched the candle come to life.

A fine, silvery thread wound its way through the air around the circle. It was pretty, but not yet complete. Keith's final candle still remained unlit, and he settled his quaking fingers with some deep breathing.

When the last candle was lit, there was no turning back. He couldn't let himself stumble.

He was not strong enough to fight, and if he didn't fight then soon his entire forest would tumble to the ground around him.

Keith forced himself fully into the present to speak his verse, to light his candle, to have two clear points of visualisation: _Knowledge and Power._

With bated breath, he waited for something to happen.

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours.

Keith sat, staring blankly at the empty space before him in a stubborn refusal to close off the circle. All the while thinking, _of course the spell wouldn’t work. I’m too weak._

In his naivety, he'd thought he was _at least_ strong enough to seek an _escape_ from that weakness.

Just as he sucked in a short breath to blow out the candles in defeat, there came three light knocks to his front door. Almost immediately, the bindrune pulled at him.

It wasn't the same, frantic whispers as the night he lost his first tree. It was softer. No danger, but the potential for it. It told him whoever was on his doorstep meant him no harm, but had a great capacity for it.

Keith gently placed his candle where he'd been sitting for the past few hours, shuddering when he caught the time on the clock to be _exactly_ three in the morning.

The door swung open. It was completely still outside.

The silence was disturbing, but even more so was that there was _no one_ standing on his porch. He waited there for a beat, peeking out into the night.

The quiet was broken by low, velvet laughter. It built as Keith stood frozen with his back turned, until it echoed _everywhere_.

A gust of wind battered him as it bullied through the doorway, unnaturally hot and stifling. Sweat beaded on Keith's forehead, and he gasped as he was plunged into complete darkness. Every candle in his home snuffed out in an instant.

He slapped his hand to the electric light switch involuntarily, seeking some escape from the oppressive shadows that loomed over him. It clicked uselessly as he flipped it back and forth.

Spinning on his heel, Keith's chest heaved as he was hit by a wave of... _something_.

It wasn't like _anything_ he'd _ever_ experienced. Blood rushed loudly in his head. He was suddenly plagued with nausea, feeling like he was going to pass out, but he fought against it desperately.

Keith’s eyes were squeezed shut as thought it could protect him from the terror of it all, even as the laughter faded, and he was again left in that eerie silence

Heart beating a fervent tattoo against his chest, Keith opened his eyes.

Two creatures stood inside the circle.

Tall, imposing shadows with empty white eyes that picked him out in the darkness. They didn't look like they were about to eviscerate him for daring to summon them, but they didn't exactly look happy to be there either.

The amount of power that rolled off of them made Keith's stomach lurch.

“My name is Keith Kopernik,” he said, forcing his voice into steadiness. “I summoned you here for – ”

The creature on the left scoffed with a feral grin. Too many sharp, serrated teeth glinted in the low light as it spoke. “Yeah, I wonder why a _witch_ summoned _Power_.”

Keith squinted at the petulant tone, feeling off-kilter.

“We _know_ why we are here,” the other creature said, with a much gentler gait. “I apologise for my companion. We don't get out much.” It added with a wink. _A wink_.

“Because it's _so_ easy to leave the underworld for an evening jaunt,” said the rude creature, who Keith could only now assume was Power.

“ _Demons_ ,” Keith hissed, flushing. He'd expected something bad, but not this.

“Demons,” Power mocked. “Did you hear that?”

Knowledge, sighing in exasperation, gestured towards their bodies. Power muttered something, before dispersing the shadows that cloaked the two of them with a flourish.

Now, stood before Keith, were two men who were mirror images of one another in all but the length of their hair, and the shapes that littered their bare torsos. Power's body was a battlefield of scars, from the gnarled and knotted, to pale silvery things that could only be seen if the light hit them right.

“Demons, wights, spirits, _monsters_ ,” Knowledge murmured almost wistfully. He pinned Keith with his hypnotic grey eyes, forcing him to stop marvelling over the pictograms tattooed over a great deal of his skin in a strange, brutal runic alphabet Keith didn't recognise. He continued with a small smile, “We've gone by many names, over the centuries.”

Keith shifted uneasily. His knees hurt from where he'd involuntarily dropped to them, kneeling outside the salt circle.

“W – which names do you _prefer_?” Keith asked hesitantly, his anger tempered by Knowledge's calm.

Power's eyes widened, and he let out a short breath of laughter, “You are a strange one, little witch.”

“No one has ever asked our names before,” Knowledge said, cocking his head. “Do you intend to trap us?”

“Trap you?” Keith demanded incredulously. “I want your boons. I know you must have given them to others, in the past.”

“ **For a** _ **price**_ ,” they replied in unison, and Keith felt the weight of their full attention like a slap in the face. Their voices echoed around the walls of his home, worming their way through his mind, dark and foreboding. For just a moment, the vision of the men before him slipped to reveal endless shadows with twin, gaping maws.

It was not something Keith could get used to.

“I'm not...” Keith trailed off. He wasn't, _what_? Exactly? He summoned them here for the power to save his home. Refusal to pay the demons' price would be nothing less than the ultimate betrayal as the land's only caretaker.

If they wanted his blood, he'd give it.

If they wanted his _soul_ , he'd give it.

It was his _duty_.

Squaring his shoulders and gritting his teeth, he rose to his feet, pulling a shaky cloak of confidence over himself.

_Goddess, give me strength._

“Name your price, demons,” Keith said. His hand fluttered, unbidden, towards the knife tucked into the back of his jeans.

The movement wasn't lost of the spirits in front of him, and he blanched when they _laughed_ at him. Their humour was not misplaced. Krolia's athame would not defend him against whatever evil they wanted to claw into his soul.

“Name it, Power! Name it, Knowledge! I summoned you here, and I command you to _tell me_!” He tried again, forcing his voice into evenness.

Power grinned a feral thing, flipping a curling lock of hair over his shoulder. “Mine _name_ , is _Kuro_.”

“W – what?”

“ _His_ name,” Kuro continued, jerking his thumb towards his mirror image, “Is _Shiro_.”

It occurred to Keith that Kuro had put himself, and his companion, in a tight spot giving out their names like that. If Keith had even half his wits about it, he should’ve researched trapping demons before he went into this.

Being that any power and arcane knowledge Keith had lay mainly in the _growing things_ department, he hadn't the foggiest idea of how to trap a demon using their names on the fly.

“ _Your_. _Price_.”

Keith was fast growing sick and tired of the fact they were pussyfooting around the subject. He wanted this over and done with.

“Your chastity,” Kuro relented, looking hungry.

Keith stared at them, frowning as he waited for the other shoe to drop. Surely, _surely_ this had to be a _joke_.

“My – my, uh?”

Shiro leaned forwards as far as the circle's barrier would let him, his gaze making Keith's skin feel prickly and warm. “Your maidenhood. We want your _virginity_.”

“I'm not gunna lie,” Keith said, trying to pretend he wasn't embarrassed at being a twenty-five year old virgin (it couldn't be helped, if you barely left a magically isolated forest), “I expected there to be, like. Blood? Souls? A bounty on my life?”

Kuro's laugh bubbled out of him, joyous and surprised, and he pointed a clawed finger at Keith, “You're _funny_.”

“Is that all, then?” Keith honestly felt mildly hysterical. The adrenaline fizzled out in his veins, leaving him weak and shaky. “You literally _just_ want to have sex with me?”

Shiro nodded, and Kuro just shrugged.

 _And that's not supposed to be a favour for_ me _?_ Keith thought sarcastically, eyeing up the pair.

It was pretty damn obvious the forms they’d shifted into were something from the horniest corners of Keith’s psyche, and it made ignoring the voice in his head screaming _This is crazy! Do not do this!_ a whole lot easier when he could make the final decision with his dick instead of his brain.

 _Finally_ losing his virginity to the hottest creatures he’d ever seen, and gaining all the knowledge and power he needed to protect his ancestral homeland in return? That sounded like it was a win-win scenario.

Letting himself walk beyond the barrier that protected him was dangerously easy.

  
  


*

Keith was splayed out on the stone floor of his cottage, panting. He stared up at the ceiling with the distinct feeling he'd bitten off _far_ more than he could chew.

The demons had spent the better part of forty minutes opening him up on careful, slick fingers, seeking out moments of pleasure Keith didn't know his body could even _give_. They didn't let him come – used their magic to hold him off.

He felt like his entire body was _vibrating_ when they finally left him empty, forcing him to watch as Shiro straddled his chest and fingered himself. _Holy shit_ , that was a sight he wished would never end.

Kuro kneeled next to him, licking his lips for just a moment as he watched Shiro fuck up into himself. There was a strange intensity in his eyes that Keith's couldn't quite pin down, but he clearly liked what he saw of his bipartite.

“What do you want?” Kuro purred, turning his attention back to Keith. He dragged a finger down Keith's sternum before pushing both of his hands up to splay them against his chest.

“Anything you want,” Keith managed, shivering. He felt their magic thrum in the air, felt his own responding to it, reaching.

Kuro grinned at Shiro, lopsided, before leaning down to kiss Keith. It was filthy. They collided open-mouthed, and Kuro snuck his hands up further to pin Keith's above his head, flicking his tongue out against the inside of Keith's upper lip.

After spending so long kissing no one, it was really weird to gage how he should respond to someone else’s tongue in his mouth, no matter how fucking amazing it felt. The way Kuro's lips parted in the wet slide against his own was fuelling that lust, low in his gut.

He felt Shiro move off his chest, but the weight was quickly replaced by Kuro's body bowing over him. Keith groaned, shocked, when he felt another mouth licking a stripe on his thigh. Kuro moaned in turn, rolling his hips down onto Keith's stomach, unbidden.

Keith tore away from the kiss with Kuro to watch as Shiro sucked firmly at the head of his cock, with absolutely no hesitation. An embarrassingly high exhale caught in Keith's throat when Shiro started blowing him in earnest.

“Fuck,” Keith said, biting his lip. “Oh, _my god_. Please. _Please_ , fuck me.”

“But you look so pretty, just like this,” Kuro told him, punctuating each word with sharp nips to Keith's lower lip.

“ _Fuck_. _Me_.”

“Do you really think you're in charge here?” Shiro said amusedly, pulling off his cock. His voice was wrecked. “That's charming.”

“I need one of you to fuck me, or I am going to _scream_ ,” Keith ground out, his ass clenching on _nothing_ which was wrong for _so_ many reasons. He didn't know he had this sort of desire within himself, but now it reared its head, it was impossible to ignore. He wanted to be fucked so, so badly that he wasn't beyond begging at this point.

There seemed to be some sort of unspoken agreement between the demons, because it wasn't long before they rearranged themselves.

Kuro heaved Keith's hips into his lap, and when the head of his cock caught against his rim teasingly, the moan that escaped Keith was _loud_. He was big, and it didn't seem possible that he'd be able to fit, not when Keith's previous experience was limited to his own fingers.

Shiro gathered Keith into his lap, resting his shoulders against his strong thighs, petting his hair with a soft coo. He arched down to press a deceptively sweet kiss to Keith's neck, before predictably chasing away the softness with a sharp nip. It only made Keith feel more lost to his desires.

“You are going to take him,” Shiro told Keith, still petting his hair. “You will not come. Then, _I_ will have _you_.”

He couldn't come? What sort of _insanity_ was that? There was _no way_ he could hold back for that long. It had been nearly an _hour_ of edging. His balls felt drawn up, his stomach ached with the force of his need.

Keith thought, mildly hysterical, _You're torturing me._

He only realised he'd said it aloud when Kuro's fingers tightened where they spread Keith's legs, “We _are_ demons. What did you expect?”

It was then, Kuro chose to start pushing his length inside.

Keith's fingers scrambled for purchase on the stones and his mouth opened on a silent cry. It _burned_ , it was a _really_ fucking tight squeeze, but Kuro persisted, finding a space for himself inside Keith.

The stretch of it was acute, and when Keith's voice finally started working again he choked out a confused groan.

It kind of hurt, it felt good – it was too much, it wasn't enough.

When Kuro finally stilled inside of him with a grunt, Keith looked up, unseeing, completely taken over by the feeling of having someone _inside him_. It was so intimate, and he was appreciative that Kuro was letting him adjust.

He'd expected many things. It was like Kuro said, they were _demons_. He _hadn't_ expected this small mercy, though.

“M'full,” Keith slurred, trying to reach down to tug on his cock to ease the discomfort. Shiro snatched up his wrists in a heartbeat, pressing the claw of his thumb to the tender underside of Keith's palm threateningly.

“You'll take what he gives you,” Shiro said. Keith felt like he was in constant awe of how Shiro could infuse _just enough_ of an edge into his soft voice to make it feel like a threat. He'd mistakenly thought Shiro would be the good cop in this scenario. He was a bad cop, he just hid it better than Kuro.

“You are _tight_ ,” Kuro ground out, appreciative. He closed his eyes, sighing happily.

Shiro leaned down again, still holding Keith's wrists. He trembled at the words Shiro pushed into his ear seductively, “Do you like the mess we can make of you, darling?”

Keith wanted desperately to reach up, but they were out of bounds and he had to follow their rules.

“Shiro,” Kuro said, flicking his lidded gaze up. His voice was tense, and his hips trembled where they rested flush against Keith's ass.

“Need something, Kuro?” he replied sweetly.

“Shiro,” Keith whined, this time. “Please.”

“You two make such a pretty picture, I knew you would, though,” Shiro said, letting go of one of Keith's wrists to push Kuro's sweaty hair off his forehead. It was clear to both of them who was calling the shots now. “You're both so good for me.”

His voice was almost hesitant, and Keith was starting to get the distinct impression that the demons had been together in everything save for _this_. It was thrilling, that this wasn't all just new to Keith.

Kuro inhaled sharply at the praise, looking up at Shiro with narrowed eyes.

There was something unbelievably hot about seeing Shiro affect Kuro like that, too. With every aborted movement of his hips and twitch of his cock, he was at Shiro's mercy. Turned out, he was all bark and no bite. After all, power was nothing when it was forced into submission.

Following on the heels on these thoughts came a strange vision.

It was so fleeting Keith wondered if it could be real – of a day where he conspired with Kuro to give Shiro his comeuppance in the form of a quick and filthy evening where he was forced to chase his own pleasure instead of letting it be a slow burn. It was a balmy sunset, filled with the sort of laughter and good natured jests that only came with a familiarity the three of them definitely did not have yet.

It wasn't even a blink before the vision was gone, but Keith could feel Shiro's eyes on him.

“Alright,” Shiro said, still staring at Keith. “Move, Kuro.”

Kuro threw his entire body into the first thrust with a grunt, and it wasn't long before the discomfort faded into pleasure. Keith felt like all the nerve endings in his body were on _fire_ , and could feel the raw power rolling off Kuro in waves as he panted over him.

He railed into Keith, using every inch of that _stupidly_ defined musculature to yank sounds from Keith he didn't have the presence of mind to be embarrassed about. He alternated between pistoning thrusts that scooted Keith along the floor into Shiro lap, to insanely rough rocks into Keith that left him limp from the locus of pleasure inside his body.

He could feel his orgasm building, so different from the pleasure he was used to by simply jerking off. It made his toes curl, and he keened high as Kuro kept those short movements going, fucking into his prostate on _every_ downstroke.

Something held him back, though, prevented him from climaxing. He couldn't help the sob that shook his body.

Keith didn't even know it was possible to _cry_ because you wanted to come so badly, but there he was, and there were the big fat tears rolling down his cheeks as he cried around each strangled gasp while Kuro fucked him.

“There, fuck! Don't stop, _don't stop, please_ ,” Keith babbled, pleading. It felt so good. He wanted to come – he never wanted it to end. His entire body was trembling, legs shaking violently like his body couldn't contain the sensations inside of him. He cried out again, fucking himself down onto Kuro with new vigour.

The new angle was insane, he felt like every time he got a breath into his lungs, it was punched straight out of him as Kuro pounded into him, concentration fierce on his face.

All the while, Shiro cooed sweet nothings, showering the two of them with praise, making Keith feel fragile.

“You're screaming for him, darling,” Shiro chuckled, peering down at Keith. “Is his cock really that good?”

“Fuck you,” Kuro replied for him, breathless. Keith nodded, though, and Kuro huffed at the sight of it.

“Want you to come,” Keith said, chest heaving. “Come inside me. Do it.”

“You're filthy!” Kuro grinned.

“Fuck me like you mean it!” Keith said, insistent.

Turns out, you shouldn't ever egg on a demon of power.

Keith's back snapped into a punishing arch as Kuro took his hips into a bruising grasp, railing into him with newfound vigour as he chased after his own release. He wanted to go limp, to just let Kuro take over his body for him, but the fact he hadn't come made him taunt with the strain of it all. All he could do was clench down on Kuro's cock, taking vindictive delight in the small amount of control it gave him.

Before Keith had any warning, Kuro groaned ecstatically, hips spasming in brutal movements as he fucked his come into Keith's ass with abandon. It made wet, obscene sounds every time Kuro shifted or his muscles stuttered.

It felt beyond amazing.

There was a moment of dazed quiet before anyone spoke.

“Kuro, pull out,” Shiro ordered, only to receive bared teeth for his trouble. He reached over to yank Kuro’s hair, inadvertently shifting his softening cock inside Keith, making them both whine. Kuro was pulled into a vicious kiss.

Keith watched Shiro lick into Kuro's mouth possessively from below, dizzy with arousal.

_Oh, my god. That's the hottest thing I've ever seen._

When Shiro shoved him away, Kuro was quick to comply.

He gently eased out of Keith's sore body, petting his leg with a shushing sound as he winced at how weird it felt to have come leaking out of him like that. He didn't have much time to contemplate it, though, because the demons quickly swapped positions. Shiro crawled across the floor towards Keith, slow and predatory.

Keith's throat clicked as he gulped.

The pot of lubricant was in his hand, and Keith squeaked when his oversensitive cock was slicked in it. Shiro let his knees rest on either side of Keith's hips, and when Keith finally clocked onto what was about to happen, Shiro was already lowering himself down, holding the base of Keith's cock to line him up.

“ _Oh_ – ”

His hips twitched upwards as he cried out, completely lost in the sensation of all that tight, wet, heat. He could feel all the ridges, the give of the muscle and he thrust upwards without thinking, stars sparking off behind his eyelids. This was beyond anything he'd ever imagined the demons would take from him – they were certainly following up on their price to take Keith's virginity thoroughly.

Keith didn't know how long Shiro bounced on his lap like that for. He was nearly insensate with how fucking good he felt, the only thing he registered was how pretty Shiro's cry was when Kuro finally gained enough brainpower to take Shiro’s cock in hand, and jacked him in time to how he was riding Keith.

Shiro tightened, vicelike as he came with a low grunt.

“Wanna come,” Keith begged, panting. Wanting that invisible barrier to his climax to fuck off already. “ _Please_ , Shiro, let me _come_ , please.”

Mercy, finally.

Shiro nodded, eyes hooded as he snapped his fingers. The binding was gone, and Keith shouted hoarsely as he jackknifed in on himself, holding Shiro down.

His body felt like it had been turned inside out, and he whined when Shiro laughed breathily, tightening around him just to be a dickhead.

The laugh tapered off into a sound of genuine shock as he said, “The contract – it's sealing.”

Kuro's head whipped up in alarm. “How? The _ritual_ – We haven't even – ”

He pulled off Keith, who sat up at the commotion. Kuro and Shiro looked down at their bodies in shock, still slick and stinking of sex, before turning back to Keith.

Out of _nowhere_ , galaxies spiralled out from the demons’ fingertips, vivid in their blues and rich in the purples and reds, and deeper still the inky blackness that spilled smokily from his lips, throwing the brightness of the magic into high definition.

Keith knew he looked more stunned than the demons; the combination of their magic so different to his usual fiery hue. His hands were eventually engulfed in the demons' personal galaxy, a testament to the power they'd brought into Keith's home.

Then, somehow, the spiral pulled Keith's own magic into that hypnotic vortex.

It didn't feel draining, as spending his magic usually would, but like an _exchange_. A symbiosis that didn't make any one of the three less powerful, but _more so._

He couldn't quite wrap his head around how that could be possible.

The light grew until he was incandescent with it. It spilled out of his very pores, until Keith stood there gloriously consumed by it. He could see sweat beading on Kuro's forehead, and there was a ring of shining violet around Shiro's blown-out pupils, a breathless grin splitting his cheeks.

From there, ribbons of light streamed steadily from the pair of them to Keith, funneling power into Keith's body far beyond what should have been possible, limning everything around them until his entire home was glittering like the night sky.

He wondered at the sight, wondered even more that he didn't feel tired by what they were creating. For it didn't seem as though Keith was the only one gaining from this gift if the thin stream of red spiralling into the two of them from himself was anything to go by.

Keith opened himself up to the newly replenished well of power that had been forced into him, accepted it as a part of himself. In doing so, he caught more flashes of a future he didn't know he wanted so desperately until now.

Kuro, sparring with him under the light of the new moon.

Shiro, sipping tea as he scribbled pedantic corrections into priceless books from the library.

Keith, protecting his home, in turn, under the protection of Knowledge and Power.

A witch, and his two guardians.

The magic between them, a triquetra of wildly different yet perfectly aligned powers, flowed through his veins and showed him just how foolish he was for thinking that sex could only be used for barter.

_I'm going to fall in love with them,_ he thought dazedly. _We're soulmates._

The light eased its way out of existence, reaching out between the three of them in tendrils as a final goodbye as it dissipated.

Something new and exciting hummed beneath the surface of Keith’s skin.

“Wow,” Keith breathed, clenching his fists as he looked between Shiro and Kuro with wide eyes. “ _Wow_. Is – is that _normal_?”

“Not quite,” Shiro said, strained. If something escaped _Knowledge's_ knowledge, then it must be quite the rare thing indeed. “I believe, ah. You would call this a fated encounter. You may find yourself to be uncommonly prone to bursts of energy as you grow accustomed to your new powers.”

“And I'd try not to touch anyone,” Kuro added.

“Excuse me?”

“You may experience visions,” Shiro elaborated, squinting at him like he was trying to figure something out. For some reason, Keith felt himself pull a shield over the memories of what he'd seen earlier, wanting to protect it from prying eyes. Shiro would probably find out about it eventually, anyway.

“So... that's it?” Keith asked quietly.

“You've paid the price we demanded. Though I daresay you took more than your fair share, there is no more to discuss,” Kuro shrugged.

“You may oust us from your home, if you wish,” Shiro said, a knowing glint in his eye as he watched Keith nod, and go through the motions of unravelling the magic of the circle.

And, if Keith put a proverbial doorstop in the gateway to the otherworld? Well, it must have been an honest mistake.

  
  


*

  
  


The apiary his father built many years ago needed a great deal of upkeep, but was all the more rewarding for the hard work Keith put into it.

His colony resided several miles away from the cottage, in a small clearing next to a sharp incline with a spring that bubbled out of the rock face as a little waterfall. It was close to some of the lushest wildflower patches Arus had to offer, and the abundant honey that flowed in its wake was just a bonus to what Keith enjoyed about apiculture.

Biting into a comb on a warm spring day was a rare treat Keith allowed himself once he'd done all his daily chores.. A couple of small, oozing blocks rested in a jar next to him as he secured the last frame back into the hive.

The low hum of the insects, and the quiet rush of the waterfall set him at ease.

Letting go of the near-constant vigilance after the situation with the illegal logging had been a hard won battle, made a whole lot easier by the fact their bodies were now nourishing the very trees they'd tried to destroy.

It was not long after Shiro and Kuro left that the loggers stole through the night yet again, oblivious to the power Keith now had at his whim. He found them, with their trucks and saws at the ready, and gave them ample opportunity to leave.

Unfortunately for them, they ignored his warnings.

It took less than a few minutes for Keith to enact his revenge.

Keith had been working especially close with Arus' impossibly large mycelial network as the warmer weather set in, helping direct them towards the stumps that needed its aid the most. It was a wonder he'd never tapped into the forests' vast underground communication network earlier.

All the while, the bindrune still chimed in his heart.

Keith knew he hadn't shut the door to the otherworld quite as tight as his mother had taught him to, and was _completely_ aware of exactly who might take advantage of that opening.

The surety he'd felt of what would come to pass between himself and the two demons stood strong in his heart, even if the emotion hadn't made itself at home yet. Keith was actually surprised that Shiro and Kuro hadn't approached him since that night. He knew they were there, watching over him, but they didn't make themselves known even when he could sense they were close.

Keith wondered what they were waiting for – some kind of signal? An affirmation of how much he wanted them to be a part of his life?

He wiped the sweat off his forehead, rolling his eyes as the familiar sensation of being watched pricked at the back of his neck.

“I have some spare honeycombs,” He said casually, holding the jar as he walked towards the cool shade by the waterfall. “Maybe you deserve a treat after a hard winter of _stalking me_.”

Keith didn't miss the quiet breath of laughter that followed him under the cover of a good-natured rowan. Still, they didn't make an appearance.

“Also, about the tree branch that spontaneously combusted when it almost landed on me last week,” he continued sternly. “I'd prefer it if you just let it fall next time.”

A shadow materialised in his peripheral, and Keith's heart leaped into his throat as it spoke to him. “Well _I'd_ prefer it if you didn't have concussion.”

It sent a thrill up Keith's spine to hear Kuro's sarcastic drawl again, but he tempered his excitement to keep his voice casual. “I have all the power a witch could dream of at my disposal. I _think_ I could've dodged it.”

To this other side, Shiro appeared with a mild smile and said, “I'd like some honey, please.”

“ _Mm hmm_ , I'm _sure_ you do,” Keith said, jabbing a finger into his shoulder, giddy that he could even touch him after all this time. “I would have liked to see the creatures that saved my forest sometime in the last three months, but _someone_ decided to just lurk around like a creeper instead.”

“I think we have all the time in the world to make it up to you,” Kuro purred, plucking a comb from the jar and shoving it unceremoniously into his mouth.

“Besides,” Shiro added, smoothing a comforting hand over Keith's shoulder, eliciting a shiver from him with a light scratch of his claws. “It's taken a lot of convincing to get the forest itself to let us _stay_.”

“Stay?” Keith echoed, hopeful.

“We thought we could stick around. Y'know. See if any wayward tree branches needed showing who's boss,” Kuro teased around his mouthful.

Keith laughed, “And the underworld? Don't they need you back?”

“I think they'll manage just fine without us. We're needed elsewhere,” Shiro said firmly, casting a meaningful look to Kuro. “You forget, I know everything, Keith.”

“Uh,” Keith said, ineloquent, as his face went red. “About, um. What I saw – ”

“ _Everything_.”

“If you'd have told me I'd be sharing a witch with this guy, I'd have told you to fuck off,” Kuro said, fond. “Now? There's no place I'd rather be.”

“A triad is the form all wisdom visits in,” Shiro nodded sagely.

Keith rolled his eyes, and Kuro snickered.

As they walked through the balmy afternoon, back towards Keith's cottage, he wondered if his parents saw all he'd done to protect their home, and knew if they had seen, he would have made them proud.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find @ cosmogonists on twitter! they create the most beautiful sheith artwork!
> 
> s/o to my girlfriend for actually coming up with the premise for the direction i took this prompt!! <3


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